At the University of Washington, we believe improving population health worldwide is a moral imperative, driven by our public mission of service to all; healthy people, healthy planet.

UW Sustainability is supporting a group of students, faculty, and staff from across the UW health sciences to launch two new initiatives connecting healthcare academics and operations with sustainability opportunities and challenges.

Multidisciplinary Efforts for Sustainability in Healthcare (MESH) engaged students, faculty, and staff from other areas of UW that intersect with healthcare, such as Built Environments (green building in healthcare design), Engineering (sustainability in medical device design), and Social Work (issues of access and social/environmental justice). Sustainability and Medicine (SAM) is a facility-by-facility effort to coordinate and optimize sustainability practices that improve patient outcomes, reduce expenses through resource and process efficiency, and strengthen stakeholder relationships.These initiatives also work closely with the UW Environmental Stewardship Committee subcomittee on Greening Health Sciences.